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Taco Since: Jan, 2001
#1: Nov 23rd 2016 at 10:01:46 AM

Everyone's first day at High Aces was going to be a little bit interesting. Their applications had been well-received, their background checks had gone through just fine, and a well-sealed letter had cordially invited them to move into the facilities on what was now officially named Sky High Mountain.

The mercenary company's base sprawled across an impressively huge mountain on the very northernmost edge of Apple Island, a rugged expanse bought on the cheap due to being as barren as it was. Various towers and ramps jutted out of it from all angles, like the spines of some horrible beast, actually the bays and launch ramps for basically any spec of craft you could think of. There were even a few docks, for the occasional sea-bound dingus who hadn't yet caught up with the times and taken to the air, or for the seaplanes of so many rugged Dirk Gently types.

It was immediately obvious that while the land was cheap, the complex that sat on top of the land was decidedly not. How did our heroes' mysterious proprietor afford it?

There was an immediate answer as they approached the base for their first day: the heraldry of Fredrickssen Loans and Loan Collection, a black hand on a field of red stretching upwards to grasp a golden sun, and presently adorning every single vehicle gathered around the base save our heroes. The leader was assumed to be the enormous zeppelin in their front, about the size of a house, with an impressive array of hot death slung under its arms. Mostly close-range miniguns, but a sinister limb of hooked metal sat there too—one of them fancy new-fangled lightning cannons! A multitude of smaller craft were in a holding pattern around them—a squad of four gyrocopters, lightly armored but maneuverable, and armed with a long-range Adric Boltgun, capable of firing vicious spears of metal. The other escort squad was five vanilla Brace fighter planes, big cigar-shaped numbers with wing-mounted machine guns and four missiles. Dangerous in their own respect.

A voice came from a megaphone at the head of the lead zeppelin. "Barry. Don't do this to me. I really think you've got something good here, and you've been a fantastic customer thus far. Please give me a reason not to do this." The voice was steady, low, and measured, a negotiator's voice for sure. Backed up by 2 squadrons of fighters ready to cut someone out of the sky, but still.

"Excuse me, one moment..." The return call was high and reedy and breathy, someone who was more suited to negotiating sales more than his life. The megaphone clicked off, and immediately all of the new arrivals at High Aces received a hail on their radios, the same guy. "Ah, my, looks like you arrived just in the nick of time! You must be the new mercenaries of High Aces! So good to see you! Well, introductions are in order, but first, perhaps this can be a sort of preliminary examination of your skills in combat! These ruffians are attempting to extort me out of a loan that isn't even due another month! Inexcusable, honestly. Anyway. Perhaps you could persuade them otherwise. Don't worry about police involvement, Fredrickssen are wanted for other extortion charges anyway. Just... you know, do your thing, fire away!"

So now you, the heroes of this story, or at least something like that, are in a fairly controlled position. The airships arrayed in front of your new home have not yet noticed you. Your new boss has told you to take them out, or at least drive them off.

What do you do?

edited 23rd Nov '16 10:03:51 AM by Taco

Sergey_Smirnov Trans Terminus Homo from Everywhere and Nowhere (With a german accent) Since: Aug, 2015 Relationship Status: Consider his love an honor
Trans Terminus Homo
#2: Nov 23rd 2016 at 10:31:27 AM

High Aces, Airpsace

"Got that Aydan?" Minerva stretched in her pilot seat, her bomber currently was going steady at a few thousand meters, under it the Fighter was docked as normally. Over the radio she could hear a small chuckle "Roger that, if you were so kind and would extend the docking arm? That'd be great~" Minvera gave a chukle herself, pressing a button on the console, a low grumble could be heard as the docking arm extended, shortly followed by a loud rumble as the engine sprang to live, now that the propeller would not hit the bomber while spinning. "Okay, propeller's spun up, releasing!" Minvera looked as the Fighter went into a steep dive. The fox looked back to her crew "Okay, now that the bombing bay is free we're going on an attack run, as always: Rule 1: Protect the plane; Rule 2: Whoever shoots down the most baddies gets a free Whiskey from me, good hunting." With that the plane was going in a climb, getting even higher.

edited 23rd Nov '16 10:31:47 AM by Sergey_Smirnov

"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"
SolipSchism Since: Jun, 2014
#3: Nov 23rd 2016 at 10:48:59 AM

[Little Green Island—The Drunken Duck]

The old man across the table snorted into his beer. He made a face and took a moment to wipe the froth out of his moustache with his sleeve before replying.

"A stripling like you?" he said. "That's a tall tale if I've ever heard one."

"Quite tall," Ejra replied, "and—I assure you—entirely true. How long have you been on this island?"

"Got here two days ago," the old man grunted.

"And you didn't notice my love down at the airfield when you arrived, putting her audience of outdated groupies to shame? She's the sexiest plane on the tarmac, and she's all mine. You think a rogue like me bought that jewel?"

He paused to take a long, slow draught of his own beer, and dabbed at his upper lip with a handkerchief produced from one of what seemed like hundreds of pockets. It vanished back into its pocket, and he continued.

"It was just about a year ago, actually..."


[Just About a Year Ago—Somewhere above the southern seas]

"I'm not going to say it again, Demoris. You knew what you was signing up for when you agreed to this. Get on that fuckin' boat and disable it. Now." Will's tone, even distorted by the radio, made it clear that the conversation was over. Well, that wasn't, strictly speaking, a surprise.

Ejra set his jaw. He'd taken a chance here, and it hadn't paid off. Now he was stuck between a rock and a hard place: Help with the mission, or piss off the pirate band that had been feeding him for the past few months. Well, it wasn't that hard of a place.

He flipped up a switch cover on his console and thumbed the switch. A small screen strapped to his wrist lit up, displaying numbers and figures in bright green on black. Something beeped off to his right. He peered out of the cockpit at the airship far below and to starboard—a speck, really, from this height—full of civilians who were oblivious to the swarm of pirates encroaching on them. It was just rotten luck that they'd boarded a luxury airliner with the family of one of the wealthiest businesswomen in this region.

"Prepare to engage," he said. "Dropping in three... two... one..." He tapped the screen on his wrist, and for an instant, his entire world became crushing, screaming pressure. Then he was in the open air, his pilotless plane cruising away below. His focus shifted to the airship far below, cruising toward an invisible point below him. His mind racing with the task at hand, he pulled his arms close in to his body and dove straight down.

Gunfire.

What?

Careful not to change course, his gaze darted around until, by sheer chance, he spotted it—a black speck to his left, below him and rising. Tiny muzzle flashes told him all he needed to know, but the twisting in his gut almost made him forget that he wasn't alone up here.

"Incoming escort," he shouted into his wrist device. "I need support now!"

"Got you, Eddie."

As if his request had summoned a demon from hell, another plane ripped past him just a few hundred feet away, making a beeline for the approaching escort. The gunfire was deafening even over the omnipresent rush of air.

"Don't worry about this idiot," his savior transmitted wryly. "Just focus on the airship. If they didn't know we were here before, they do now."

Ejra struggled to bring his focus back to his target. They had adjusted their course while he was distracted. It was going to be close—he had less than a minute left to put himself back on a collision course before the window of opportunity would close.

Fortunately, he was very, very good at this.

Ejra ripped through the intervening space like a bullet, even laughing as the thrill of what he was doing began to overshadow the fear that always accompanied these ventures. When he was seconds away, he yanked his ripcord and braced for the stunning force of the parachute yanking him upward. He gave it only a second to slow his descent, taking the moment to grab the eyepatch on the lanyard around his neck and pull it up over his right eye. Then—almost perfectly centered above the airship, just as he'd hoped—he pulled another cord to detach the parachute. He pulled in his legs and rolled when he hit the surface.

More gunfire.

He ducked behind a large fin, drew one of his soporific-tipped needles, rolled to emerge on the other side of the fin, where his assailant (hopefully) wouldn't be looking. There was a flicker of movement. He flung the needle, grimaced as it sailed over its target's left shoulder. He hadn't properly accounted for the wind, a rookie mistake, and those needles weren't cheap. But the evasive maneuver caused the gunman to lose his footing. He disappeared behind a rise. Ejra didn't stick around to see if the man was all right; he had more urgent matters to see to. He ducked into an unsecured maintenance hatch and disappeared into the black depths of the ship.

Sliding his eyepatch back down around his neck, he peered down the dark walkways. His right eye had had enough time to adjust that he could make out the broad strokes, but not so much that he could see clearly yet. He would have to be careful if he ran into anybody.

But... there wasn't anybody here to run into. As he moved through the ship—heading for the bridge—it became clearer and clearer that somebody had made a miscalculation on this job. The ship was deserted. The echoing of his footsteps on the metal grate floors was the only indication of life on the ship. His thoughts strayed out of boredom, to about a month prior, when he'd acquired his plane, and when his piratic career had really taken off...


[Just About a Year and a Month Ago—Pomegranate Island]

"I'll call. You," William Belfast said, throwing a coin down on the table and jabbing a dirty, callused thumb to his left, in Ejra's direction, "are soft. You been playin' along so far, robbin' all these rich assholes that you can pretend are bad, bad people, but just wait. The minute we set our sights on someone you feel bad for, you'll cut and run like the do-gooder you are."

"I'm hurt," Ejra said, not looking up from the cards on the table. He frowned, and pushed a coin out in front of him. "Call."

"Just shut up and play the game," Arnold muttered from Ejra's left. "Fuck." He threw his cards onto the table: The ten of clubs and the six of hearts.

"You're supposed to keep your fuckin' cards hid, Arnie," Belfast said, reaching out to turn the cards facedown, even though everyone had seen them already.

"But I'm foldin'."

"Don't matter. We're not supposed to know what cards ain't in the deck. What if I had a straight what needed that ten? Now I know I ain't gonna get it, 'cause you had it."

"But you don't have a straight needs that ten," Arnold retorted.

"It don't fuckin' matter," Belfast snapped. "Just keep your fuckin' cards hid next time, jackass."

Arnold grunted and got up to go refill his stein. Thomas rolled his eyes and rapped his knuckles on the table. Belfast followed suit; Ejra mimicked the gesture.

"Gentlemen," Ejra said. "Gentlemen, please. Language. Look, Billy—"

"Don't call me Billy."

"Fine. Will. I don't know where you got the impression that I'm unreliable."

"Check. All bets in," Thomas interrupted, and reached out to the deck. He pulled one card off the top, laid it face down, and turned over three cards. The ten, King, and six of spades. Ejra suppressed a smile; he could see Belfast doing the same. The man's poker face was awful. Ejra's was much better.

Ejra continued. "Haven't things been going well for you—for us—since you plucked me off that lifeboat? Hell, to hear you tell it yourself, I'm the best thing that's ever happened to this merry band."

"You sure are the chattiest thing's ever happened to us," Belfast muttered. His eyes went from the table to Ejra. "I'll raise you five marks." He pushed the coins out in front of him.

Ejra thought for a moment. "Then I'll go all in," he said, "and I'll throw in my haul from our the next hit."

Belfast sneered.

"Hell with this," Thomas muttered, throwing his cards in—facedown—as Arnold returned to his seat.

"What happened?" Arnold grunted, squinting at the table. "Aw, fuck. I woulda had a two pair."

"Fine," Belfast growled. He pushed his stack of coins out. "And since you're try'n'a make it more interesting..."

"It's only fair that you throw in something of comparable value," Ejra said, nodding.

"I'll do you one better. I'll give you my bird."

"I suppose you think you're clever, offering me a canary," Ejra said with a smirk.

"No, 'cause I ain't a fuckin' scholar like you. I don't play with words. You take this hand, you get the Murderess."

Ejra smiled. "Now that's an interesting bet."

"Everybody's all in," Thomas said with a sigh. "And then some." He reached out to burn another card, and turn the next one: the nine of spades. Ejra could see the triumph in Belfast's eyes, and tried to ignore the stone in the pit of his stomach. Thomas burned the last card, and flipped over... the jack of spades.

It was as if Ejra had been unable to breathe for minutes, but had only just realized it.

"Show 'em," Thomas said, failing to mask his curiosity.

Belfast threw down the seven and eight of spades: A straight flush from six to ten.

"Don't try to renege," he sneered.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Ejra replied with a smile, turning over the queen and ace of spades.

A royal flush.

There was a moment of silence.

"Fuck," Arnold said.

"You cheated," Belfast snarled. "You fuckin' cheated."

"Please. Will. You're embarrassing yourself. Go on, say your goodbyes. Take your time. I won't need her until the job next month. Oh, and I'll just..." He reached across the table, swept the entire pot over to his side of the table, "...take this. Cheers, gentlemen. I think I'll have myself another drink. In fact, have a round on me. No hard feelings, right?"


[Just About a Year Ago—Somewhere above the southern seas]

Ejra arrived at the bridge thoroughly confused by the absence of resistance and absorbed in his thoughts; so much so that he was not as cautious as he should have been when he opened the entry hatch to the bridge and found himself staring down the barrels of several rifles.

"Pirate," the mustachioed, bedecked officer standing behind them said with a sneer. Ejra recognized the uniforms; the Rose Hip Atoll Navy.

Well, haven't you all picked the best possible moment to suddenly become reasonably competent.

"Not quite," Ejra said, slowly raising his hands to show that he was unarmed. "I'm actually here to help you. If I'd known you didn't need the help, I wouldn't have come."

The officer snorted. "Indeed, I'm sure you wouldn't have. Don't waste your breath, pirate. After we dispose of you, we'll take care of your pack of vermin, circling like vultures."

God, I can't stand people who carelessly mix metaphors.

A distant explosion sounded. Ejra lifted one finger to point in the direction it had seemed to come from, but kept his hands raised.

"Those people out there?" he said. "They're waiting for me to disable this ship's navigation and defenses so they can board. Which I have no intention of doing."

"I'd like to see you try," one of the riflemen muttered into his thumb, curved almost sensuously around the stock of his weapon.

"Well, if you want to shoot me, then shoot me," Ejra said. "But, consider an alternative: You put your weapons down right now, and I help you annihilate these pirates. We can all walk off this airship the best of friends."

The officer rolled his eyes and raised one hand, the fingers extended rigidly.

"Ready," he said, looking directly into Ejra's eyes.

"Last chance," Ejra said with a smile. "I really do want to be frien—"

"Aim," the officer said.

Another explosion, this one much closer, rocked the bridge.

The instant of distraction was all Ejra needed. He dropped to the ground, wincing at the sound of gunfire in an enclosed space, rolling back and out of view of the hatch. It took him a moment to be sure nothing had hit him. Shouts from the bridge brought him back to the situation. He had no more business here, and he needed to disappear, fast.

This was almost too easy, despite the sudden change of plans necessitated by the trap laid by the RHAN. He gripped the handrail of the catwalk and vaulted over it before any of the soldiers had time to emerge from the bridge and see where he had gone.

Nimbly, he traded bars and pipes for cables on his way down to the belly of the ship, ignoring the shouts from above. When he reached the lowest deck—the outer hull of the ship, if his memory of the ship's layout was accurate—he looked around. It would be so easy to escape and leave all this behind, but that hard place would come looking for him before long. He was confident in his abilities, but he didn't really want to take on the entire band by his lonesome.

...Especially not when he had his own band of RHAN sailors right here, though they didn't know it themselves.

Smiling to himself, he made his way to a nearby electrical panel and opened it, taking a moment to examine the switches and wires within. It didn't take long to spot what he was looking for. Raising his wrist device, he detached a cable from the panel and plugged it into the device. He tapped a few keys, transferring the frequency data and decryption key for the pirates' shared IFF and navigation data. With this, the RHAN would be able to closely track every one of the pirates' aircraft. That included Ejra's own Murderess II, but he imagined they'd be too busy dealing with the attacking pirates to worry about one lone fighter speeding away from the fracas.

With his sedition complete, he plugged the cable back into its place, closed the panel, and headed for the nearest maintenance hatch. He opened it, bracing himself against the edge of the opening, and leaned out. Smiling, he let go, and fell out into the open sky.

A second later, he slammed into the pilot's seat of his craft, and hastily sealed the cockpit.

"Demoris, you son of a bitch!" Will bellowed over the radio. "I'll blast you to Hell, you traitorous fuck, and when I take that bird back, I'm going to give it a new coat of paint with your fuckin' blood!"

"I think you have more urgent matters to deal with," Ejra replied mildly. "This airship is bristling with very nasty men with guns, and I think they're shooting at you." He dipped under a spray of bullets from the airship. "Actually, they're shooting at me too, so if you don't mind, I'm going to make myself scarce."

He closed the channel and pushed the throttle up, kicking on the afterburners. He tried not to pay attention to the dogfight behind him; some of those men were his friends, much as he was directly responsible for their slaughter taking place now. He had no desire to stick around any longer. It was time for him to move on to a more savory line of work.


[Little Green Island—The Drunken Duck]

Ejra smiled nostalgically, as if he had just finished relating a story about a childhood misadventure. The old man was less content.

"You were one of them?" he said, his expression dark.

"Well, technically," Ejra said, waving a hand dismissively. "I never went on a run against anyone who didn't deserve it, though. Corporate fat cats, military patrols hunting us, a few government freighters carrying gold—those ones were really fun. But the moment they told me we were going to kidnap a bunch of rich kids, well. I've already told the story."

"You might want to keep that story to yourself," the old man said. "People around here don't take kindly to pirates. Reformed or otherwise." With that, he took his beer and left the table. Ejra opted not to respond. He sighed, and tossed back the last of his beer.

Well, he might have expected that. He was, after all, here on the Apple Islands, seeking employment with a mercenary company that had made its name hunting people like him. He'd expected them to have a better sense of humor about it, though. Ah, well. He'd been a thief, and a spy, and a pirate. Surely it couldn't be so difficult to adopt the life of a mercenary after all that. Belfast had said he was a do-gooder, and if that's what the mercenaries wanted, well, he could be good with that.

Someone cleared his throat nearby. Ejra looked up to see a well-dressed man staring down at him.

"Mr. Demoris?" the man said.

"I prefer Herr," Ejra said with a grin.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Nevermind. Yes, that's me. Please, have a seat. How may I be of service?"

The man didn't move to sit, but produced a white envelope with a wax seal. He took a moment to find a dry spot on the table, and laid the letter down in front of Ejra.

"From the High Aces mercenary company," he said, and inclined his head slightly before making his way out of the tavern.

Ejra stared at the letter for a few seconds before reaching out to break the seal. His eyes scanned the first few lines, then, without bothering to read the rest, he grinned and folded it up, stuffing it into his pocket.

Yep. He would be good with this.

hamza678 Red Like Santa from Christmas Beacon. Since: Apr, 2013
Red Like Santa
#4: Nov 23rd 2016 at 11:09:48 AM

Sky Snake

Aiki was not pleased. He angrily shot at the enemy pilots, sending a rain of lead towards them. He grunted in his bestial Troglodyte language. Mi-Mi translated the ape's cries. We won't let those criminals off the hook!. Aiki decided to attack the Zeppelin's main cabin. It was a large target. Hoping for the best, he shot a rocket toward the huge airship, sending. He then concentrated his fire on the Brace fighters, hoping that they would soon fall.

Frederick was a bit worried. He had been in dogfights before, but he hadn't expected something like that when he first arrived. Even Mi-Mi seemed a bit worried, or as worried as something that resembled a flying eyeball could possible be. He hoped and prayed that the rocket would hit.

Now known as Cyber Controller
GIG Forever livid from Where I want to be Since: Feb, 2010
Forever livid
#5: Nov 23rd 2016 at 11:44:15 AM

Arlynn was not happy with the proceedings as well, but for more selfish reasons. They had planned to make a beautiful first impression, had even bought a new dress and everything. Black, slit in the leg up to the thigh, a sparkling scarf to match. And now look! Now they had to make an impression the boring way, by blowing something up. Any plain old pilot could blow up something, and maybe a true ace could destroy a zeppelin, but how many could slay in a more subtle way? Arlynn bet that not many cou-

"ARLYNN!"

Snapped out of their funk, they turned to glare at their interrupting friend. "Yes Gelica dear, I have noticed the situation, I assume you've started spooling the cannon?"

Flapping all four of her arms, she snapped back. "Of course! But we need to start moving into position before the fighters notice us! And we can't do that if our pilot is busy brooding!"

"Yes yes dear, no need for attitude," Arlynn replied, waving her away. "Greg honey, ready a torpedo. BARO, top guns front, I want as many bullets as possible ready to fly."

With a grunt of the wolfman and a cry of "Gun Gun!" from the robot, Storm Advisory started a shallow dive. Preparations starting, Arlynn sent a message to their assumed comrades. "Starting an attack run on the zep. Could you darlings find it in your heart to start a ruckus so I can find a dead angle on this damned dirigible?"

edited 23rd Nov '16 11:45:26 AM by GIG

Izshta The Flamebringer from Mor Ardain Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
The Flamebringer
#6: Nov 23rd 2016 at 12:15:07 PM

Klaus checked the fuel gauge in front of him. Not as high as he would've liked for a dogfight, but it'd have to do. "Rashid!" Zia rolled her eyes. Klaus grinned. "You ready to add another star to our plane?"

Zia shook her head at Klaus' enthusiasm. "For the last time, my name's not Rashid, old man!" She flipped open a few switches, and a hum of charging could be heard in the plane.

Klaus banked hard left, before pulling up. "I'm not that old!"

Zia shrugged. "You kind of are." She unlatched the turret, allowing it to swing freely. Klaus flipped the plane around into a dive towards the zeppelin. He flipped up the trigger shield on the autocannons. "Let's put a few holes in that gasbag!"

He depressed the trigger, the four autocannons on the wings opening up with a rain of steel towards the zeppelin. Zia spun the turret towards the gyrocopters, preemptively firing the twin machine guns at them. A red light blinked on on her dash. "Coils charged!"

Klaus smiled. "Feel the hammer of the gods!" he yelled. Zia rolled her eyes, and depressed the trigger. The plane rocked violently back as the tungsten-steel alloy AP/HE shell flew at a few kilometers per second towards the zeppelin, likely tearing through the gas bag and into the cabin, whereupon it would explode.

All are significantly abnormal in a normal world... All are significantly normal in an abnormal world.
Sergey_Smirnov Trans Terminus Homo from Everywhere and Nowhere (With a german accent) Since: Aug, 2015 Relationship Status: Consider his love an honor
Trans Terminus Homo
#7: Nov 23rd 2016 at 1:42:29 PM

edited 23rd Nov '16 3:39:03 PM by Sergey_Smirnov

"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"
Skiller2 The Sun’s Firstborn from The Bay Area Since: Feb, 2016 Relationship Status: Abstaining
The Sun’s Firstborn
#8: Nov 23rd 2016 at 3:36:22 PM

The crew were enjoying a subpar meal of salted meat and hard bread when the transmission came through.

"Well, looks like the first action of the day. Stations!"

Bryon and Branden climb up the ladder to the cat walk and get on the two guns there, and Jesse takes the helm. Vera walks over to the engines and prepares for any repairing.

"Fire at will!"

Bryon aims at the gyrocopters and starts to unload at them with the high caliber minigun. Jesse turns the wheel toward the zeppelin and grabs hold of the throttle and moves it to full power. The powered down engines now roar and The Lilias starts to charge towards the zeppelin, it's steel ramming piece ready to pierce it. Jesse pours some Kerosene into a pipe and the engines go into overdrive, further increasing their speed.

FantasyLiver Since: Oct, 2012
#9: Nov 23rd 2016 at 4:38:09 PM

Jay took a swig from his flask and quickly spat it back over the side of his Tigertail Flipper after remembering that it was nearly two days old. He really needed to see about getting some more liquor somewhere.

"Boss-man - you ready?" chuckled Bosco, Jay's canine gunner. Jay rolled his eyes under his sunglasses. The only reason that he and Bosco were flying the plane together was because Bosco had served in his old unit in Queensland and had been the one to tell Jay about the new job opening. Jay was grateful to Bosco for that and only that. Otherwise, the dogman was far too happy and excitable and chatty for Jay Berryman's taste.

"Shoot towards that gyrocopter there!" Jay shouted to Bosco as he zipped through a swatch of said gyros quickly, hoping Bosco could take them out with the tail gun.

blumen Since: Dec, 2014
#10: Nov 23rd 2016 at 5:20:16 PM

[In the middle of the sea]

Some people believe life is the greatest gift one can give and most of them are happy to be saved from inminent death..... except when their rescuer is trying to charge them money. That was the lesson that Matthew learned many times on his carrer and just like today he didnt like to deal with them directly since it could lead to a fight inside the plane so he dealt with them by virtue of patience, not moving from the plane and wearing their patience thin.

"We can be here all day sir, there is a storm coming and I dont think you would like being on the middle of the sea when that happens" said Matthew as he went to check on the man who was currently drying himself with a towel. The man just stared at him in silence, Matthew sighed and grabbed a case and a bucket before going outside and sitting on a wing of the plane.

"This kind of people are the worst customers to have" Matthew said in a complainy tone to nobody in particular while he opened the case and started putting together the parts of a fishing rod. Fishing wasnt one of Matthew favourite things to do but it had a few things he liked about, he could get food from it, it required and helped improve patience and time could go by while you do nothing.

As Matthew finished putting the bait on the hook and threw the rod onto the sea, he heard Gavan from inside the plane screaming "EMERGENCY" the sudden scream made Matthew lose grip of his fishing rod, dropping it into the ocean. After cursing himself he entered the plane fearing that the man had tried to take control of the plane, to his surprise the man was sleeping on a bunk with Ruckus on top of him. Gavan was on the radio as he signaled to Matthew to come giving him the headphones with the message that loan collectors were atacking HQ.

"Wake up the sleeping beauties on the bunk and tell them to buckle up, then assume gunning position on the left side of the plane" Matthew said as he started up the engine of the plane. While he was taking the man to the mainland where he could escape and dont pay once the conflict ends, the possibilities of luring the enemy aircraft to the sea and making them fall, making them need a rescue if they werent planning to drown.

[On HQ]

Once they arrived to the HQ Matthew decided to target the gyrocopters luring some of them to the sea docs, with Gavan using the minigun to disable their rotor blades, crashing them into the sea, where the currents would drag them further into the sea where hopefully Matthew would be able to rescue them once the battle ends.

edited 23rd Nov '16 5:20:42 PM by blumen

Taco Since: Jan, 2001
#11: Nov 23rd 2016 at 6:11:29 PM

"The hell?" One of the first things that hit the Fredrickssen fleet was Zia's barrage of machinegun fire. Lightly armored and completely unaware, the first gyrocopter shuddered and shattered into a cascade of fuselage. The pilot ejected and fired a flare towards the incoming planes, and the battle began in earnest.

Another gyrocopter fell under Byron's assault, but the 2 remainders were out for blood: one opened fire with its scything bolts towards The Lilias, and another towards Zia and Klaus's machine. This was, however, immediately before it got shredded just the same by Jay and Bosco's Tigertail Flipper. Matthew's diversion would have to contend with the chopper pilot's lust for vengeance against Zia and Klaus.

As soon as a lookout spotted the first gyrocopter get shredded to pieces, the Fredrickssen balloon took as evasive an action as something that big could take. It started ascending rapidly and angling itself very precisely, trying to predict incoming attacks to minimize the pain. Aiki's rocket, slower than a bullet obviously, exploded shortly afterwards. It shook the entire cabin and knocked a few pilots off their feet, but with the ship turning to engage it at least was not a direct hit. This did however mean that the assault from both The Lilias and Zia's ships. An explosion again glanced off the side and sent the whole thing drunkenly spinning and sinking, in time to get speared by The Lilias.

Inside The Fredrickssen Command Zeppelin, Loan Reclamation Officer Adric Stath was not going to give up. He snarled over his command station, took a deep breath, commanded it and made it so:

The Command Zeppelin's vicious payload swiveled around to meet its enemy. The lightning cannon began charging, while the miniguns laid down suppressive fire, daring any pilot ballsy enough to actually try to engage on them.The Lilias could definitely do some more damage, but their pullout game better be on damn point or they'd get a shocking surprise.

Meanwhile, the otherwise unattended Brace Fighters were still a threat! Only one of them had gone down from Aiki's assault, leaving the other four to engage as they would. With The Fredrickssen Command Zeppelin keeping The Lilias busy, they went for the next biggest target: the fucking huge plane trying to lure their last gyrocopter down to the dock. They went for a strafe as a single wing, laying down a row of machinegun fire at them.

Skiller2 The Sun’s Firstborn from The Bay Area Since: Feb, 2016 Relationship Status: Abstaining
The Sun’s Firstborn
#12: Nov 23rd 2016 at 6:33:15 PM

Waving his Talisman for good luck, Jesse starts his own famous maneuver.

"Light 'em up!"

He slows down a bit, and turns hard to the right, dislodging the ramming piece. As they slowly move parallel to the ship, Byron runs over to the Carronade as Branden gets off of it and goes down the ladder. Byron fires the 16 sharp projectiles point blank at the balloon of the zeppelin and starts to load Grease rounds. Byron reaches the Flamethrower and starts to fire at anything that looks flammable. Jesse then turns the throttle to 3/4 max speed and they start to pull away.

GIG Forever livid from Where I want to be Since: Feb, 2010
Forever livid
#13: Nov 23rd 2016 at 6:42:26 PM

Arlynn took a quick look around. They had seemingly gone unnoticed by the escorts, and the zeppelin itself seemed preoccupied with the poor raiding blimp, what with that cannon. Though the seaplane seemed to be in quite the issue, it wasn't like Arlynn could do much for them. They'd already entered into an attack run, and it wasn't like Storm Advisory could tangle with fighters on it's own. Might as well leave it to the others.

"Thanks for bringing the ruckus darlings, make sure to take care of yourselves," Arlynn messaged, and then began to climb to attack from underneath the blimp.

"Lightning Cannon ready to fire Arlynn!" Gelica shouted from her station. Giving a thumbs up in reply, Arlynn started their run, machine guns and cannon blazing, torpedo loosed and flying, and BARO sweeping any gun stations it could target.

"Sorry sweeties, but we both can't be wearing the same thing, go home and change!" With their unusual battle cry, Arlynn fired their own Lightning Cannon towards the cabin.

edited 23rd Nov '16 8:57:18 PM by GIG

Izshta The Flamebringer from Mor Ardain Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
The Flamebringer
#14: Nov 23rd 2016 at 7:22:18 PM

High Aces, Sky
Klaus grinned, a fire in his eyes. "See those stars and ticks? They're not decorative! Oh, Rashid, remind me to add another!" Zia rolled her eyes, and fired a burst towards the remaining gyrocopter to deter pursuit. Klaus pulled up and banked hard towards the ocean.

Zia fired more staccato bursts towards the zeppelin, mostly to tear more holes in the gasbag. Klaus toggled a switch, priming the missiles. "Hei! Pick on someone your own size!" Klaus maneuvered the escorts into his sights, firing off two of the missiles, before once again opening up with the autocannons.

All are significantly abnormal in a normal world... All are significantly normal in an abnormal world.
Sergey_Smirnov Trans Terminus Homo from Everywhere and Nowhere (With a german accent) Since: Aug, 2015 Relationship Status: Consider his love an honor
Trans Terminus Homo
#15: Nov 24th 2016 at 2:36:15 AM

Ace High, Airspace

Do-217 (Minerva)

Minerva by now was over the battlefield, her finger on the release... only to take it away from the button. 'That's no battle there, that's a slaughterfest, no need to drop my bombs here.' Instead Minerva just opted to circle above the battlefield. She was quite confident that the others would be able to do it alone, after all anyone managing to get above the zeppelin and out of range from the underslung weapons was free to shoot at their hearts content at the cells keeping the thing afloat.

XP-31 (Aydan)

Aydan was about to take aim at an enemy, but just before he could do so one of the other planes flew before him and he had to quickly evade. Knowing he would have no chance in a dogfight he instead opted to climb again to try another dive later.

"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"
sgtpendulum Since: Dec, 2012 Relationship Status: Baby don't hurt me!
#16: Nov 24th 2016 at 7:49:22 AM

ACE HIGH AIRSPACE

With all sort of aircraft going at it at each other with a fucking zeppelin in the middle, it's not hard to understand that one could not see a hover bike coming in at a distance, riding it was Nataliya Meeuwes. She had seen the fight ahead and all she could utter, as much as she could utter with a buterbrod(aka butter bread) in her mouth anyway, was "Nu pizdec, fuck off you blyats I'm already fucking late for work as it is." For all her life living on GUNSTOCK having everything she needs be on an iron floating island, it did not occur to her that her home can actually move away from stationary things like an island and it's only in the wake of the morning that she realized a fatal error.

The good news was that she arrived at the island just in time for the action with a really really strong buterbrod. The bad news was that she's just outside of her employer's transmission range when he sends out that message so by the time she arrived, for all she knows, it's just a bunch of hooligans going at each other over an insult on one's girlfriend. Nataliya was planning to circumnavigate the fight altogether and just go straight for the fortress but something went disarrayed when a stray bullet came her way and shot her only breakfast food of the morning out of her mouth. She did not take it very well.

Nataliya turned on her radio and shouted "Blyat! Who fucking shot my bread? You wanna die?" but she did not wait for an answer as she sees any chavs in a fight as an associate to a crime of food vandalism and that just so happens to be the Brace fighter planes forming in onto a huge ass plane. Nataliya reached down onto her bike and took out her AK-47s from each side and just started spraying down the planes.

http://www.last.fm/user/sgtpendulum Yo, check out what I'm listening, it'll be heat, brah :^)
blumen Since: Dec, 2014
#17: Nov 24th 2016 at 5:09:18 PM

The plan didnt go exactly as planned but Matthew had managed to cause a diversion between the gyrocpters and Gavan had managed to down a few of them himself, the problem right now was the four brace fighters took a liking to him as they began to chase him. Matthew manuevered around, rising above the docks to the clouds, while his limit was 25000 feet he didnt want to risk going that far just to lose some guys. So once he felt that he was high enough Matthew put the wings of the plane in vertical postion which caused the plane to drop altitude at a high speed with the brace fighters following him soon losing sight of his plane. Once Matthew felt he was too close to crash into the sea he stabilized the plane and resumed normal flight. Matthew cleaned the sweat from his hand with his face forming a little smile of accomplishment.

"You are going to kill us all!" screamed a the rescued man from behind the plane.

Matthew looked back with his previous smile dissapearing into his normal stoic face "If I hadnt done that the plane would have crashed and I doubt those fighters would have cared about rescuing you like I did, now tell Gavan to move into the fron gunner positon the sooner we end those fighters the sooner you can leave this plane"

The man with a frustated didnt respond to what Matthew said and went to get Gavan who in a few moments was ready to attack and they rose to the clouds again in this time in search of the brace fighters. They had to take advantage that the brace fighters didnt know their position to find and eliminate as many as possible in a surprise attack.

hamza678 Red Like Santa from Christmas Beacon. Since: Apr, 2013
Red Like Santa
#18: Nov 24th 2016 at 5:18:39 PM

Aiki decided that the other Brace Fighters were the largest threat. He attempted to shred them with his guns. Trying to fly unpredictably to avoid getting hit, he aimed for the cockpits of the enemy.

Frederick felt somewhat sick. He didn't like erratic flying, not at all. Could you please stop it?

Now known as Cyber Controller
FantasyLiver Since: Oct, 2012
#19: Nov 24th 2016 at 8:19:29 PM

Jay swore as he saw the Brace Fighters and went for the one closest to him. He didn't know any of these shmucks he was fighting with but battle tended to make friendships very quickly. He was going to be damned if he let anything happen to any of them.

"Bosco!" he yelled to his gunner. There was silence.

"Bosco!" he yelled again, fearing that his canine gunner had been hit.

"Hmm-what? Oh sorry - I was just looking at that lightning gun - haven't seen a model like that in a good bit!" Bosco nonchalantly apologized. Jay swore again, even louder at his companion's distractedness.

"I'm heading for that Brace Fighter over there. I'm going to fly circles around it - you light it up!" he said. Bosco howled his approval and Jay angled his plane at the closest fighter to complete his plan.

Taco Since: Jan, 2001
#20: Nov 25th 2016 at 2:48:50 PM

"Live to fight another day, men!" The captain of the Zeppelin barked to the crew of the ship as they started to go down from the combined assault of multiple aircraft. The Lilias's pullout game was, in fact, decently on point, but because there was not the utmost priority given to it, there was still some trouble. The lightning cannon discharged from the sinking ship and it scored the back of the Lilias, starting a fire on the aft that needed taken care of pronto. Not that they really got away with it, as Arlynn's own lightning cannon arced and sparked across the Fredrickssen vessel, sending several escape pods off-course as the crew attempted to escape.

The four Braces, realizing that they were also being led on a wild goose chase, shot a few commands back and forth before disengaging and heading back to base. Going on the full defensive, they dove and swooped away from Aiki's guns, but distracted as they were by that most immediate threat they didn't see the others until it was too late. As Berryman circled around the planes the one on the far right broke down to pieces from his assault, and Nataliya's assault rifles blasted the cockpit straight off the other.

And so Fredrickssen Loans and Loan Collection was for now defeated, tails between their legs with 2 braces and a whole lot of lifeboats limping back to base.

"Holy crap! Huh, didn't expect that, for sure!" The base commander piped in from the radio once more. "Thank you so much for your help, and please, come in! I'd love to meet my saviors face to face! There ought to be at least one runway for everyone!"

The runways were even more elaborate than the forest of ramps outside would suggest. Each one took the planes onto a sort of automated carrying rack to guide them down into a shared hangar in the heart of High Aces's base, a pretty impressively huge place carved out of the bottom of the mountain. There were multiple refueling machines of different make, size, and fuel composition, as well as armatures to assist in reloading. A couple young kids in mechanics' jumpsuits immediately ran out to greet the planes as ladders were run up to the cockpits. From the loudspeaker, the boss spoke again.

"Take your time, feel free to acquaint one another, and get anything else you need to do done, I'll be waiting on the sixth floor! Just take the elevator on the north wall to get up there!"

edited 26th Nov '16 12:42:31 PM by Taco

Sergey_Smirnov Trans Terminus Homo from Everywhere and Nowhere (With a german accent) Since: Aug, 2015 Relationship Status: Consider his love an honor
Trans Terminus Homo
#21: Nov 25th 2016 at 3:35:44 PM

Aces High, Airspace

Do-217 (Minerva)

Minerva gave a knwoing smile "Knew it." She looked back to her crew "Seems we made it." Minerva looked at the fuel Gaude, seeing she could stay in the air for a while longer she decided to let the others - who may had not enough fuel to continue flying much longer - could land first. She went into a wide, downward spiral, staying around 1000 meters over ground as she waited for the others to land.

XP-31 (Aydan)

Aydan was relieved that the combat was over. He saw Minerva's bomber slowly descending. Seeing that he was her escort it went without saying that he would cover her even during landing, as such he went into postion. Now the two planes were flying in an Echelon to the left.

edited 25th Nov '16 3:35:59 PM by Sergey_Smirnov

"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"
sgtpendulum Since: Dec, 2012 Relationship Status: Baby don't hurt me!
#22: Nov 26th 2016 at 9:58:18 AM

Aces High

As the plane Nataliya had shot went down, she sent a spit on its way as an insult to injury, then muttered one final "Cyka!" before holstering her rifles into her bike and drove her way to the runway as her new boss told her to. With all the seemingly expensive equipment specializing for huge planes and a large runway, the RUSH-B hover bike looks like a toy, she did not even need a carrying rack as she just drove straight through and into the shared hangar. Because of the size, she felt that she does not even have the need to park in an oversized parking spot, so she merely parks her bike nearby the elevator for the sake of convenience.

From how her boss sounded, it seems like she's not late at all, so she took this time get her ass off the bike, reload her rifles and does some stretching, it was a long trip from GUNSTOCK to Apple Island after all. Her limbs may be man-made but her body is still human, it's good to have blood flow better.

Despite her bike being relatively untouched, she still called over the worker, just to talk a little bit. "Oi, gopnik," she said. "How long have you been repairing ships?"

edited 26th Nov '16 10:05:29 AM by sgtpendulum

http://www.last.fm/user/sgtpendulum Yo, check out what I'm listening, it'll be heat, brah :^)
GIG Forever livid from Where I want to be Since: Feb, 2010
Forever livid
#23: Nov 26th 2016 at 10:24:57 AM

Leveling off after their attack, Arlynn surveyed the carnage. The loan sharks never knew what hit them, in many senses of the phrase, and the good guys had come out nearly undamaged, bar the raider blimp getting grazed by the opposing lightning cannon. Though the lightning cannon in itself being there was worrying. While the arrival of the impromptu had to have been amazing for their future employer, the fact that a loan company had decided to attack in force, including bringing a lightning cannon to bare, felt incredibly inauspicious. Shaking their head, Arlynn prepared to land.

At Base

Now situated at the base, BARO and Gelica worked with the crew to check on the craft, while Greg took stock of the belonging and armaments on the shit, and worked out what needed to be acquired. Arlynn however emerged from the tail turret turned dressing room in fresh clothes, a simple shirt and vest with slacks. Yawning loudly and attempting to be as conspicuous as possible, they set out to mingle with their new coworkers.

Izshta The Flamebringer from Mor Ardain Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
The Flamebringer
#24: Nov 26th 2016 at 1:50:48 PM

Klaus watched as the remaining loan sharks flew off, throwing a salute after them. He smiled "Think we can call that blimp ours, Rashid?"

Zia rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't. To muddied."

Klaus nodded. "One gyro it is."

Klaus banked the plane around for landing, looking around at the surprisingly advanced hangar.

In the hangar
Klaus slid down the ladder from the cockpit, taking his well-worn hat out of his pocket and putting it on. Zia, for her part, vaulted out of the cockpit, ignoring the ladder entirely, landing on the ground with a roll. Klaus shook his head. "You're going to break your neck doing that one day."

Zia shrugged. "But it looks cool!" She took her own hat out and put it on, giving Klaus a mock salute. Klaus sighed. Zia walked off to mingle, while Klaus set about getting the plane refueled and rearmed.

All are significantly abnormal in a normal world... All are significantly normal in an abnormal world.
Skiller2 The Sun’s Firstborn from The Bay Area Since: Feb, 2016 Relationship Status: Abstaining
The Sun’s Firstborn
#25: Nov 26th 2016 at 2:27:07 PM

Branden runs to the aft and starts to put out the fire with his fire extinguisher, as Vera helps him. The subdue the fire and they both get to work repairing the engines, as Jesse turns the ship towards the runways and looks for one that suits him. He grabs the elevation lever and slowly moves it down, and the ship starts to descend.

In the Hanger

The Lilias lands, and Jesse throws some ropes to the crew to tie the ship down. Byron walks over to Jesse, and they speak in their native language.

"Cap, you think these guys are experienced?"

"They're ok, but they certainly don't look experienced. Lets go get supplies."

He smiles as he drops over the side of the ship, Byron following him. They walkover and browse some ammo and fuel and take what they need. They store it on the ship, then climb back aboard to help with repairs. The engines and the hull were damaged by the fire.


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